insight & evidence
Canada’s provincial electricity systems are impressive but to make the country an energy superpower, they must be linked together. By Peter Nicholson and Rick Smith for The Hill Times, July 2, 2025 Faced with unpredictable and disruptive American trade aggression, nation-building projects are urgently needed to strengthen Canada’s economy and turn crisis into opportunity. The federal government’s...
by Peter Nicholson This essay updates a paper of the same title published by the Public Policy Forum in December 2024 ( ). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Industrial Revolutionary makes the case that today’s unprecedented developments in artificial intelligence (AI) will drive a new era of global innovation and economic growth, comparable to the transformative shifts brought by the steam engine, electricity...
by Peter Nicholson – St. Francis Xavier University Convocation – May 4, 2025 Chancellor Mulroney, President Hakin, faculty, distinguished guests, proud families, and most of all, graduates—thank you for the honour of joining you on this never-to-be-forgotten milestone day. Taking inspiration from the motto of St. FX—Quaecumque Sunt Vera: Whatsoever things are true—I will talk today...
by Peter Nicholson In terms of growth of GDP per capita, Canada’s Maritimes ranks at the bottom among US States and Canadian Provinces. But the story less often told is how much the Maritime Provinces have converged toward the all-Canada average over the long run. The chart below shows that PEI has gone from 46% of the Canadian average GDP per capita in 1960 to 75% in 2016, and likely higher...
by Peter Nicholson Summary: The objective of the paper is to make the case for Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a “General Purpose Technology”—analogous in potential economic impact to revolutionary technologies of the past such as the steam engine, electricity, and the microchip which spawned the industrial revolutions that created the modern world. The theme is the potential of AI to reignite...
by Peter Nicholson The graph below appeared in a recent post on X by Johnatan Pallesen. Although the vertical scale is not explicitly indicated, it is presumably in units appropriate to each of the six variables plotted—e.g., Life expectancy in years from zero to about 100; GDP/capita from zero to about US$70,000. The point is to illustrate the spectacular take-off in the growth of an array of...
by Bernie Miller In May of 1994, Peter Drucker wrote a broad-ranging article for the Atlantic Monthly which he called The Age of Social Transformation weaving together observations which, 26 years later, seem remarkably prescient. One passage is worthy of special note: “The twenty-first century will surely be one of continuing social, economic and political turmoil and challenge, at least in its...
By Peter Nicholson This note summarizes and comments on key findings of the 2024 World Happiness Report (WHR), the latest in a series of annual publications that explore the nature and implications of a particular concept of “happiness” in a cross-nation comparative context. There should be much greater awareness of this exceptionally rich body of work and of its implications for public policy...
An analysis of public service employment trends: 2010-23 By Peter Nicholson Since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in 2015 almost 100 thousand (net) new employees have been added to the federal public service, an increase of nearly 40% in eight years. The growth in 2023 alone numbered some 21,000 or 6.3%.[1] The significant increase has begun to attract media attention, notably a recent...
By Peter Nicholson Canada’s economy has a growth problem, and the country is finally starting to notice. As Andrew Coyne recently pointed out, Canada is no longer one of the richest countries on earth. Emphasis was added by the Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor, Carolyn Rogers, who stated in a March 26th speech that Canada’s continuing stagnant productivity growth has become an...
insight & evidence